Longtime special education teacher Frankie Hemphill and executive director of support services John Hayden will retire from the Watson Chapel School District at the end of the school year, leaving with a combined 91 years of service in public education.
“God has blessed me to be able to pay off my home and my farm and all of that, and then we got a new RV,” Hemphill said. “I want to enjoy some of the fruits of my labor. I’ve worked hard all my life, and I want to enjoy some things. It can be expensive if you have to take a nurse with you everywhere you go.”
Hemphill spent 50 of her 53 years in the district and had actually retired in May 2009 when she said then-Superintendent Danny Hazelwood asked her about coming back. Hemphill returned in January 2010.
“One reason why I came back was, when I retired, I was teaching in junior high, and I was seeing a lot of my special needs kids, once they graduated high school, they didn’t know what to do, and you see them standing around doing nothing with their lives,” Hemphill said. “They might as well be fortunate enough to get a job at Tyson or whatever. … I said, maybe I can do something to change that.”
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Hemphill gladly took a position at the high school, which gave her an opportunity to work with older students who would soon be on their own.
“With special needs kids and the rehabilitation department, if they go there, a lot of stuff is free,” she said. “The training and stuff, that’s free. I have a number of students now, since I’ve been back, they got good jobs.”
Hemphill said she’ll miss the kids and co-workers the most.
“Mrs. Hemphill has been a mentor since my very first year working here,” said Cameran Faucette, who is leaving as a high school science teacher at the end of the school year. “I started off as a longtime sub, and this is my eighth year. As much as Mrs. Hemphill says I helped her, she helped me in turn. I’m going to miss Mrs. Hemphill.”
Hayden began his 38-year career as a high school football coach. Since then, he moved up to assistant principal, principal, athletic director and executive director of support services, playing a role in helping Watson Chapel reconfigure its campuses ahead of last year’s demolition of the former junior high school.
“What influenced me to go is to be with my wife and take care of my father,” Hayden said, winding down his eighth year in his current position. “It’s just been a privilege. You get a chance to come to work with a school district and something you love doing. The board hired a bunch of teachers [Monday]. Either you’re cut out to teach or you’re not, and I found I was cut out for this. I think it was a calling. I am humble and thankful for the opportunity I’ve had here with so many fine educators and board members and students and athletics. All the things I got to do, I’ve been extremely blessed.”
New principal
Jeffrey Neal will return to working in Pine Bluff as Watson Chapel High principal, succeeding the retiring Henry Webb.
Neal, also a local businessman, spent this school year as principal of Dumas High School. He had previously served as an assistant principal in the Pine Bluff School District.
“I see a whole lot of opportunity in our district,” Neal said. “I want to come back and contribute and help us reclaim our place as a district of choice. I’m very excited about what’s to come.”
Personnel moves
The WCSD board approved the other personnel moves:
Resignations by elementary teacher Tracey Campbell, secondary counselor Lois Chambless, secondary teacher Shelby Cobb, secondary teacher Faucette, music teacher Janet Johnson, bus drivers Steve Monk and Robert Potillo, cafeteria worker Alice Roberts and secretary LaTonia Roberts;
Continued employment of elementary teacher Chatora Herring and cafeteria manager Doris Scott;
Stipend for Jevon Barnes as an assistant athletic director;
Employment of instructional specialist Dionne Britton, secondary teacher Cornelius Christopher, secretary Armani Cotton, behavior interventionist Kalan Davis, secondary teacher Valarie Elders, assistant principal Daniel Holcomb, secondary teachers Christopher Jones, Javon Lambert, Deaquanita Lancelin and Brandon Marks, instructional specialist Ora Reynolds, school nurse Stephanie Simmons, behavior interventionist Tyesha Uchendu and paraprofessional dyslexia interventionist Russell Wilkins.
Frankie Hemphill